Convicted
by Drell Warrioress
Summary: Contest entry in last year's Anything-Alister group at deviantART. Explores Azimuth's thought before, during and after his exile from the Lombaxes. Winner in a three-way tie!


**Contest Entry**

I just can't believe it. Everything had turned out horribly wrong because of the one mistake I wished I had not have made in my life. No one knows much about me more than I do right now; almost everyone I've known throughout my past life is dead. Oh, why didn't I listen to Kaden when he warned me about trusting a Cragmite?

Most of you would throw hateful comments at me, others would think about killing me as soon as I confess on what had happened recently, but there may be one of you who could understand what I've been through and would forgive me. So what good would it make if I'm still being hunted down as if I were to be sentenced for a brutal execution? It would be the death of an entire race if I were to be captured by kill-bots.

I am a middle-aged Lombax who is now living in exile at Volgrom Pass, Planet Torren IV, in the Vela Sector of the Breegus System, Polaris Galaxy. My name is General Alister Azimuth, a 4-bolt magistrate in the Lombax Praetorian Guard and Elder Councilman of the Centre for Lombax Research. How did I end up there is beyond which you could imagine. I could tell you my tragic story in detail as you listen, or you could be the careless fool you are in treating me like a criminal and have me gaoled in Planet Zordoom's Prison. Either way, you would probably be the judge of my own actions.

It began almost twenty years ago when I was with my own beloved kind on Planet Fastoon. The city was wonderful in its own beauty and the people there—the Lombax race—were a very formidable species that just about everyone would want to become friends with. They were very strong too, and as intelligent as they were, our kind was famous for their technological wonders, and of course, our ancestors were formally called "Saviours of the Universe."

One day, I came across someone who was different, nothing of our race at all, but rather of one from a rivalled race known as the Cragmites. My friend Kaden and I were minding our own business as we were strolling in the city when we encountered that Cragmite. We stopped at our tracks and got caught in the sight of this creature's golden eyes. He said his name was Percival Tachyon—Kaden guffawed as soon as the full name was spoken—and asked if either of us could help him on a special project, something about inventing a new way to help protect the entire galaxy from our foes.

Kaden and I were talking about that matter the next day after a conference with our fellow councilmen and workmen at the Centre for Lombax Research Headquarters. Tachyon did seem rather interested but Kaden thought otherwise; he warned me that the Cragmite may be deceitful and we should be careful about whether to trust him or not. But somehow, I ended up contemplating that fact that Tachyon really wanted to help, that he can be trusted in some way.

I came across him again on the following week and he asked me for several blueprints on some recent warfare along with information about advanced Lombax technology and its secrets. He also told me that he could use the information as references and use them to help create new weapons to horde off anyone who would care declare another Great War. And so, I volunteered on his plan and gave him all that he wished for. From the way I saw him at the time, Tachyon seemed very trustworthy and even friendly, not like how Kaden pictured him to be at all from before. I was hoping that I had done the right thing, for everyone.

Sadly, I was very dead wrong.

When I thought I was assisting Tachyon in protecting the galaxy, he only wanted to annihilate the entire Lombax race and enslaved anyone who allied them! I only found out what was truly happening when the citizens were shouting out and my colleagues were getting ready for an unexpected battle. And it was unexpected because the one who was attacking our kind was Tachyon himself, and I was stricken with shock as I remembered that I was trying to help him, but not in this sort of predicament.

Most of us were killed within two hours and most of the Praetorian Guard had been quickly overwhelmed by Tachyon's new destructive weapon, a walking killing machine built with a mix of Lombax technology and that from the Cragmites. Several citizens managed to flee to the Court of Azimuth before they ended up dead; everyone was in fear and decided that the only way out of this tyrannic nightmare was to get out the Dimensionator and use it to access a new dimension on our planet.

Kaden left to find the rest of his family and I thought he was running into a death trap. I tried to stop him, but he slashed me with his OmniWrench and yelled out at me, "Why should I trust you now? I told you not to trust that demon Cragmite and you gave him access to everything we had, and now look at what has become of your ignorance! You must hate us as much as Tachyon himself!"

I thought I'd never see that coming, even from my closest friend, but I just couldn't deny it anymore. I caused this whole, entire mess, and now I'm being hated by all of my loved ones. Later on, I ended being banished from home and forced to leave and live in another planet, away from the pinnacle of my own race. I never even got the chance to see the dead bodies of my family left in the now destroyed city before I left on my ship, but I knew I had taken more than enough abuse for one big day. Luckily, I wasn't empty-handed as I scavenged the ruins and picked up some keepsakes.

Those were just a few restored memories of what happened before the accident while I was now living in exile. And I thought I picked a good place where no one would find me, until I realised that the Breegus System was crawling with mercenaries. One, in particular, seemed to have a huge interest in having me killed, but I wouldn't dare speak his name as just recalling the previous encounter with him was more than just a series of homicidal frights. I do try to keep myself strong why I'm in hiding from the most sinister death-bots in the galaxy; repairing armour, recharging weapons, sorting out the remains of my old home in some storage crates and switching through radio stations to see if any criminal activity had been around.

So far, I've only been needed to keep my guard up, standing my ground and watching from the high cliffs and dangerous construction railings whilst living in my new hideout past the mechanical factory and junkyard; criminal activity seemed to have increased at a great measure recently due to the uprising of outlaws and I will not let any passers-by come questioning about my name, position, race or of anything else whilst I'm still breathing today.

And if any of those passers-by happen to be you, don't think that I'll go down easily without a fight; you'll end up with either fractured bones or a stunned heart from an electric blast from my DuoWrench that not one a sentry-bot can handle for even five seconds.

It's been almost twenty years now, and I've just made the biggest discovery that it only filled my heart with raw happiness. Not long before our destruction, my friend Kaden had been theorising some sort of universal place called "The Great Clock," that it was supposed to hold time in the universe stable and there were celestial guardians who were the protectors of that sacred place; but if I'm correct, and there's a power source from within that can be used almost like a time machine, I could undo what I had made from the past and save the Lombax race from our sudden destruction, and I wouldn't have to be cast out here and living in guilt and depression!

Now, if only I had a clue as to where I could find an Obsidian Eye….


End file.
